>> and new at ten. coal is set to become the world's number one energy source by 2017. environmentalists, as you can imagine, are not the happy and

as more and more countries use coal in just five years, china will be the number one consumer of the so-called dirty energy, we'll talk about that with an environmentalist, also, we also have our eyes on washington, of course, lawmakers are on vacation, but there still is no deal on taxes. nearly every american is going to have to pay more in just eight days if congress can't reach some kind of an agreement. checking the big board right now, the dow jones industrial average is down about 41 points. again, we've got a half day of trading and we close today at 1 p.m., so that traders can go out on christmas break. light volume, but there are significant movers that we'll talk about in just a second. in particular, apple and jb penpejb-- j.c. penney. we have shibani joshi and adam shapiro as well and first to nicole, j.c. penney, a lot of

people worried about retail sales, think it's going to hit companies like j.c. penney hard? guess what? the stock is up 4%, why? >> that's a huge move on a day when the major market average, look the at j.c. penney, it's posted comments from oppenheimer this morning, talking about the fact that promotions are working well and bringing traffic into john kerry opiniony, you know that we spoke about ron johnson and came up from apple and his whole theory, was no promotion and great prices all the time and that really was working. the and so, they're back to the promotions this holiday season and it's working. traffic is pretty busy there. >> it's working very well, at least today for the stock. thank you, nicole. well, president obama has always promised not to raise taxes on the middle class, but if he can't reach a deal with republicans in the next seven days, that's exactly what will happen and adam shapiro, i've got to tell you, looking at the numbers, if the president gets

every penny from the so-called rich that he wants to get, that would still only be 1/8 of the money that he needs to balance the budget. >> in very simple terms, it's roughly 70 billion dollars is what it would raise, in a budget-- >> if the rates go up and another 20 billion, if you get rid of deductions, but he's increased spending 800 billion dollars a year. >> and to say that 70 to 80 billion in a budget that's 900 billion to a tral over budget. so doesn't add up. where does the other 930, 920 billion where is it going to come from? >> which is why, shibani, a lot of people say, maybe he wants to go over the fiscal cliff because he cares about maintaining that level of spending. he doesn't want to decrease spending, he wants to keep it where it is and the only way he's going to get that kind of money is by hitting everybody. not just the rich. >> well, and to some extent you've got to wonder, what is the most fiscally responsible thing to do? to some extent falling over the cliff will force everybody to do

the hard work that's nncessary, just raising taxes is not going to be the full-- is not going to do the job here, we talked about the difference that already exists between what is needed and the amount that we're spending and i think sometimes you've got to really twist the knife in here and maybe falling off the fiscal cliff will get us to do the really hard work that needs to be done. >> adam, in the recesses of your most con spear tospicon-- con spespir conspiretorial mind, people are going to lose jobs if we cut government spending and nobody wants to lose jobs. on the other hand they all know, by them, in washington there has to be cuts and it's easier for them, it's the conspiracy talking.

>> what's wrong with going over the cliff. >> such wonders and-- >> the world is not going to end. >>, but you and i have jobs and some people will lose them. >> some of them. >> it will force coping to make the hard choices we need to make. david: hold on a second though. the one, the only thing that could raise revenue significantly is growth. i think everybody, republicans and democrats, one thing they agree on is that growth. that could increase revenue by hundreds of billions, not just tens of billions, and if everybody gets a tax increase, shibani, will likely go into recession in any we'll have negative growth and that will mean even worse of a deficit. >> if you start to cut spending you're going to cut jobs. if you raise taxes you're going to cut jobs. at some point we've got to say we're going to do what's best for the long-term picture and either way we're going to take a short-term hit for longer term, more-- >>, but you could do it with less pain than what congress is about to deliver.

>> you can put in spending cuts that the markets will appreciate in a long-term plan, as opposed to-- >> it's not about the market. david: bottom line, what we need are jobs and growth and tax increases are not the way to get there. gang, thank you very much. well, coal imports in china were up almost 30% as the price of coal continues to plummet. the iea says that china will be number one in coal consumption after the chinese government said they would use more renewable energy, but coal will account for about 70% for the country's energy for the next five years. joining us now is rob deans, how can they get away with this under the kyoto protocol? >> david, there's inescapebly keynesian you and i talking about goal on christmas eve. and the nightmare in china, the biggest polluter on the planet. david: but they're not a part of

kyoto, that's the bottom line. >> what china is doing, china recognizes it needs to cut the mercury, corps bohn tarbon out improve efficiency and find alternative fuels, they are he' burning, as you say, 4 billion tons of coal. and you burn two lumps of coal in the world, 1/2 is chinese, you have to do something about that. >> i've got an answer for you. >> okay. >> i've got an answer and it's something you may not like, but it is an answer and it's a hell of a lot cleaner than coal, there are a lot more natural gas reserves in china and we've seen what fracking has done and how much has been plentiful. you may not like it, it's a hell of a lot cleaner than coal, why not encourage it. help them in any way we can to develop their natural gas reserves? >> you know, david, you're right. we are the two largest economies

in the world, two biggest polluters in the world. the yoits and china have a natural partnership here for clean energy, we're both investing about 100 billion dollars year together in clean energy. china and the united states. david: hold on, bob, let me define what you mean about clean energy, a lot of people from nrc did do not include natural gas with clean energy, but do you? >> well, what i'm talking about is wind, solar and other sources, but the key-- >> what about natural gas bob? >> the key to it, david, how we get it. it has to be gotten in a responsible way. we can't continue to put our communities, our ranchers, our farmers at risk and we can't continue to kick down the road the transition we need to make for the sake of our economy, for the sake of our national security for the sake of our-- >> we're not kick it go down the road. this isn't a fiscal cliff kick down the road. they're improving techniques all the time. they're not kicking the problem down the road. >> most are. and those that aren't need to be required to do so. we need to improve the public

oversight. right now they don't have to comply with our foundational safeguards, david. like the clean water act. safe drinking water. that needs to be changed so that all of these companies are fracking in the most responsible way possible. >> let me put a fine point on this. bob dean from the nrcd action fund is willing to go along with helping the chinese develop their natural gas reserves so that they don't become too dependent on coal. i think that's news. >> what we're trying to do is to encourage the chinese to promote all kinds of clean technology. we've had an office in beijing since 1995 and 30, 35 people there, we have good contacts in the government. good contacts in the business community and we're making a difference there, but what it's about, is helping the chinese to improve their efficiency. david, their industrial efficiency is improved by two-thirds since 1980, but they're still 15 to 20% behind where they need to be. they are he going to get there in the next-- >> let's be realistic, you're comparing natural gas and wind mills, it's going to be a long

time before wind mills can get to where natural gas is. if we have to deal with a solution right now for the chinese to prevent them from spewing out all of that coal. 70% of their energy needs is coal-produced. if we want to switch to something cle something cleaner. natural gas in the meantime. >> what china is doing, what no one in the history has done, hundreds of millions of people from abject poverty to the middle class. it's energy and effort unfortunately #70% is coal. and we need to transition away. >> is there actually something we can do about the china situation? half the problem we don't know what's going on inside the country's borders, much less the ability to impact change. what can we actually get done there? >> i think, shibani, it's a great question and has to do with a partnership. a signo american partnership around clean green energy technology.

china is now the leading wind producer for electricity. more wind produced electricity in china than anywhere in the world. we're number two in the united states. we have a lot to partner on. david: by the way partner with wilbur ross working with companies to get natural gas out of the chinese reserves. and there are huge reserves. maybe you could work on a deal with him. appreciate it. the n.r.a.'s wayne lapierre caused a stir when he suggested armed guards at schools. do we really need that? do we need to put armed guards in the schools? we'll ask a former d.e.a. agent about that and we'll ask about a plan of his own later in this hour. the economy means one thing for retailers, slower holiday sales for the week ending 15th. down 4.#%. adam you have been looking at this. >> part of it is hurricane sandy

and part of it's the tragedy from newtown, connecticut. david: people are afraid to go out and shop? >> they're not in the mood. one quote in an article talk people think it's better to spend time with family. shopper tracker is finding that people shopping for the week that ended december 15th down 4.3%. overall they've adjusted what they think the holiday seen will be. and they've adjusted that it will be a growth of 2.5%. and thought it would be 3.3%. national retail federation is keeping their prediction of growth 4.1%. real quick, i don't know if we have the graphic available. if you invest in retailer, boy have the on-line retailers done gang busters and even the shopper track survey even on-line wasn't performing as well as last year. overall this year for shopping, the on-line stock is doing much better. >> meanwhile, j.c. penney can we put up the stock chart, intraday

what it's doing? it's up almost # 4% today. does that surprise you? >> the brick and mortar retailers are up for the year. the on-line retailer, theirs is up. and once again, amazons, ebays, these guys are doing extremely well. >> you don't have to price check with amazon and you can do the on-line shopping and do it in five minutes. you go across the street and there's a gap across the street from this bill, our building location when i walked in this morning it said in big letters, 50% off at the gap. this is before christmas. i mean shall this is how bad these guys are hurting. >> and banana republic, 40%, 50% off throughout the year and the article in the wall street journal depending where you live, on-line retailers are charging-- >> and what prices you have, too. >> and we've got to go back to the markets, we always like to check apple shares, let's see how it's reacting to news of

google's new phone. everybody thought, nicole, that apple would take a hit. not so. >> this is very interesting. apple is not taking a hit and google is slightly to the down side. here is the deal. iphone, ipad. how about x-phone, x-tab lert? that's what google's motorola is working on reportedly accord sources looking at what larry page, the ceo is working on. and first, the x-phone, which is meant to directly take market share from those apple and samsung, and then later, where they've got a good marketing budget for this one, the x-tablet. >> shibani, you've been following the market, what do you think? >> i think this is a bigger deal from motorola versus anyone else out there. motorola has lost its footing in the market and hasn't had a great phone in years and-- >> quickly, why is google down and apple up? does that mean that the market doesn't trust google's? >> i think that this is a very competitive market and until we

get the phone no one is going to make any-- >> folks, you have heard stuart's prediction, all the talk about climate change, devastating storms like sandy are just a prelude to a carbon tax. will we get one? that's next.

>> let's take a look at the big board. right now the dow jones industrials are down about 31 points, but there's very low

volume today. it's a shortened trading session closing at 1 p.m. of course the markets are closed tomorrow for christmas. so facebook news now, the brokerage needham raising its price target on facebook to $33 a share and getting close to that 25. and the research in motion, behind the blackberry, worried after the ceo announcing new price structure and pay for advanced security, but other services would generate less revenue and microsoft hoping for a holiday miracle with new windows 8, but shares are down about 1 1/2%. this morning, in 90 seconds with the fiscal cliff coming, is a carbon tax also on the way? you thought it was gone, not so. that's next. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle.

and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. >> well, we've already talked a lot the about it this morning. president obama can't raise enough money through his tax plans to cover all the spending. that means he could resume other ways for the revenue to come in. will a carbon tax be among them? joining us now from the american action forum, sam, we know the president wants this thing. he tried desperately, even with democrats holding both houses of congress, however, he couldn't get it. will he try to pursue it in his first year of the second term? >> well, there's certainly a lot of revenue out there. a lot of projections are, if carbon is at $20 per ton of carbon, it could generate

roughly a trillion dollars over the next ten years, of course, that figure of $20 would increase, but i think it's pretty tough for republicans to swallow another trillion dollars in revenue from a carbon tax, so i don't think it's very likely to get 60 votes in the senate or for speaker boehner from ohio which is a big coal producing area, which would be hit the hardest by a carbon tax, i don't think it's likely he would bring that up for a vote. david: here is another scenario though. the president knows how to maneuver and i think one way he'll maneuver is go against some of his environmentalist friends. we saw one environmentalist saying he was in favor of china moving towards natural gas rather than coal. the president may sort of swallow his distaste for the fossil fuel part of natural gas in order to be able to tax it more. if he says go ahead, just frack like crazy and get as much natural gas as possible, but we, the government, get to keep a lot of at that by taxing it

more, maybe he'll go down that route. >> well, it would benefit the natural gas industry much more than coal because natural gas is half as carbon intensive as coal is. in order for a conservative to tolerate a carbon tax they would have to get revenue neutrality and they would want that trillion dollars back somehow, either through reduced corporate or payroll taxes and they would also want to rescind the epa current regulation on carbon. so you wouldn't want epa regulations on carbon and additional carbon tax. >> sam, this is a little variation of the carbon tax and the president might pull the epa off natural gas producers a little bit and give them room to produce even more with a p proviso, and it would focus specifically on one section of the industry. >> well, i mean, that's differently a possibility, but again, i don't see, for example,

progressives ceding the ground on fracking, the epa had the rules and land management department of the interior is set. and i don't see regulatory pullback and that's what they would have to get at minimum. david: sam, on the other hand the president knows how to take advantage of what he sees as sort of distractions in the republican party, as to whether john boehner keeps his job as speaker and a whole lot of questions about whether the tea party has been decimated by boehner, whether they rise up. the president may try to push something through real fast, what do you think? >> it would certainly not make things easier for speaker boehner, but i think there is incredible skepticism regarding a carbon tax in the next go-round in 2013. so i think it would drive a wedge in the caucus even further, but i don't know that

you'll see a ton of republicans jump on board for a carbon tax. david: no, no, you won't have a lot of republicans do it, but i think you'll find the president pushing in that direction, maybe focus narrowly on natural gas production. thank you very much. sam, it's good to see you, my friend, appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on. thanks. >> the president can pay for all of the spending just by raising taxes, so how will he foot the bill? is a fat tax like the one that they have in europe the way to do it? a vat tax? a value added tax? is that story coming up next. how do traders using technical analysis streamline their process? at fidelity, we do it by merging two tools into one. combining your customized charts with leading-edge analysis tools from recognia so you can quily spot key trends and possible entry and exit points. we like this idea so much that we've applied for a patent. i'm colin beck of fidelity investments.

our integrated technical analysis is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account.

>> when you start talking about an issue of treatment of mental illness, the mentally ill should they have access to guns? well, there is a rational response that most americans have somebody who is not thinking clearly should not have a gun in their hands. but how do you define and that codify that into law? that's a much trickier issue. david: that was scott rasmussen with the latest poll on gun control and don't forget to tune into varney 9:20 sharp. and nicole-- okay, we'll go back to nicole, as soon as we find her, she's wandering the floor of the nyse. and stuart may be out this

christmas eve, that doesn't mean he isn't spreading holiday cheer. liston what he has to say at 10:45, a christmas message from stuart. meanwhile, we are headed towards the fiscal cliff and if congress doesn't act soon the the u.s. economy could take a nosedive right off it. all this have comes as capitol hill, could a value-added tax be in the pipeline? are we slowly turning to europe. david, good to see you. and we already see us moving in terms of spending to the european model. will we move in terms of tax policy to the european model, specifically to a value-added tax like they have in most of europe? >> personally i think we should. >> on top of what we have, on top of an income tax. >> we need to cut back and what i would cut back is replacement for the medicare tax, but also, corporate tax rates should be part of the deal, too.

>> what frightened milton friedman the value added tax. there's no way it would replace it, it would always be tacked on top of other tacks and look at the history and that tends to be the way we go. >> although when the europeans brought it in they did cut the other taxes. >> that didn't last long and we've seen them come up recently. >> and it's going to continue because they've got budget problems. david: now the problem that the president has, he has increased his spending he enormously during his time in office, that in 2008, i think we can put up a chart, what the spending was in the united states. in 2008, it was 2000-- excuse me, 2.9 trillion dollars and then we had the jump at 2009. that was an 800 billion dollars jump specifically for the stimulus, but it didn't stop with that one year, that 800 million continued to be odded on year after year after year and that's why the president needs more cash and the most he can get by raising taxes on the rich is just over 100 billion dollars

a year. and he has 800 billion dollars a year extra in spending. >> i will point out number one in the 2009 budget was passed under bush. and number two-- >> but that was supposed to be a one-shot deal, david and the president kept that year after year after year, four years. >> a lot of the increase has come about because of the retirement of the baby boom as we've slipped into retirement and people like me are getting medicare and social security if i weren't working and that adds to the bill and style, compared to george w's first term. david: absolutely not. he has increased 800 billion dollars, that's a 25% increase. yes, you're talking about that one point at which the stimulus money was brought in, but it didn't end with one year. the stimulus has gone on year after year after year and that's why we need 800 billion dollars a year even though we're only going to get an increase of 100 billion if the president gets the tax increases. >> and the 800, on--

>> goes up 600 million the first year and went down a little bit in 2010, but up to 3.6 trillion dollars in 2011. that's a lot of money, david. >> 3.54. david: and the point is the tax increases. the tax increases on the rich are only going to get to a fraction. >> you've got to have spending cuts. we've got to have control particularly and social security and medicare spending. david: does anybody think we're going to get spending cuts? >> yeah, we are. >> we have to get them on january 1st, and congress could put in a plan that would say 2014 that would bring stability and accountability for fiscal-- >> if you hold harmless everybody below age 55-- over age 55 which is what the republicans are talking about, is there any credibility in ten years you're actually going to make those cuts, shibani? >> there's a big difference between what we should be doing and you talk about the vat tax and everything else we should be doing with spending cuts and actually what is politically palatable in this environment.

what is more realistic with what you think congress is-- >> very quick. >> what's more realistic, partial fix of the tax cuts and you'll get some kind of increase in taxes you'll have some kind of cut in spending, mostly on nonmedicare and non-social security programs. >> well, mostly, but there's only four programs that count anymore, health care, social security, defense, interest on the national debt. if you eliminated everything else, we still wouldn't have a balanced budget. david: david wyss, thank you very much. the n.r.a.'s wayne lapierre says we should put armed guards in schools. we talk to a former d.e.a. agent who has thought this out coming up after the break. [ malennouncer ] it's tt time of year again. ti for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castlehing. and you realldon't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind

automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finde, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all youeed is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind.

david: joining us one of my favorite people, scott shellidy from the cme. we just heard a lot of talk about how we are heading towards the fiscal cliff, whether they want to or not, i don't care, but the fact is if we do, does that mean we will be hitting another recession? >> well, it's funny how we talk about the fiscal cliff and we ignore the fact that our economy is no better off than we really were say even two years ago. for the fed to come in with 6 1/2% unemployment rate in their

last meeting. it would take four to five years of 200,000 jobs per month. we are going to be nowhere near that. these politicians are using that at some sort of leverage to get what they want. we can't afford to have any trip-ups. david: i agree with you, we should be growing at 3, 4 percent not this anemic rate we're growing at, we won't be able to regain what we have lost for a long time. if we go off with the fiscal cliff, will we immediately go into a recession? >> i will go one step further, yes. i think we absolutely go into recession. that would knock between 2 and 4 percent off our gdp right away. this is the doomsday scenario, but that ten year rate now is 1.75ish. a lot of folks are calling it to 2, 2 1/2, maybe evenn3 because they are looking through rose colored lenses that i don't have. i think we could see that rate under 1% before it gets up to 2 1/2%. 2 to 4 percent blow to gdp puts

us negative situation in terms of growth, that would be recessionary. at the same time i think you see the u.s. make a run to negative rates before you see that ten rate to 3%. that's as bad as it could be. david: thank you very much scott. >> thank you. david: protecting our schoolchildren has been a top priority, but there are a lot of opinions on how to do it. head of the nra wants armed guards in schools. >> if it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy. i will tell you what the american people -- i think the american people think it is crazy not to do it. it's the one thing that would keep people safe, and the nra is going to try do that. david: joining us now is david katz, a former u.s. federal agent and the ceo of global security group. david, is he nuts for calling for this? >> no he's not. he's not doing a great job with the pr campaign.

david: what should he be doing that he's not? >> number one, the nra needs to be committed to a dialogue where they discuss these issues and most importantly, the people who are calling for gun control legislation, they need to understand that there is nothing they can craft, no words, no verbiage that is going to prevent a guy like adam lanza from getting into a school and shooting children. it is not going to happen. there are other steps that need to be taken. david: like? >> number one, you need to have meaningful security at the front door. lanza was apparently able to break his way in. that's unacceptable. the door needs to resist what's called determined force entry attempts and the amount of time it takes -- david: some kind of wire meshing or bullet-proof glass? >> yes, they make products that have resistance for let's say forced entry with tools, forced entries with weapons, ballistically effectively. david: first reinforce the door. >> exactly right. if this guy couldn't get in or delayed, you have time to get a

police response. david: what about an armed guard? >> yes, absolutely. here's my thoughts on that, i'm not just talking about any armed guard, perhaps retired law enforcement officer or retired military who is specifically trained not only to fire as a weapon security guard, but specifically trained in what's called the active shooter response in schools. we're not doing that now. get someone like that in a school, prepare them to address anything -- david: are there enough people like that? >> i believe there are. you have literally tens of thousands of retired police officers. every month you have thousands of folks separated from military service. by the way -- david: you were a dea agent. are there other retired dea agents? >> yes, you have federal law enforcement, state and local law enforcement officers. you have to train them specifically for this mission, and you can do it. david: let's talk about the most extreme or most effective we should say security would have to be the israelis. how do they do it and could we do it their way?

>> couple things, number one, their mindset is you might only have one guard in a building facing determined attack by one or more heavily armed individuals. they are trained to attack. they are trained to attack that particular threat. we don't do that. we need to. in addition, you have people -- i know schools right now in new york city area, where the teachers are retired law enforcement. we're not talking about arming teachers. we're talking about guys who had 20 years on the job carry a weapon, they're an asset that you could use that we're not using now. >> why not do everything you just suggested and restrict the sale of the kinds of rifle that we saw used in this -- the other countries -- the argument that mr. la pierre made about violent video games and movies, i think a lot of us would agree, countries like japan, u.k. they have the same violent video games and the same violent movies the thing they don't have is easier access to a weapon like that that was used.

why not remove the weapons? >> when you say remove -- adam: can't buy it. >> how about the weapons that are already in circulation owned by people? adam: i think that's going to be an issue. you can't make people give the guns back. but you could start to restrict the sale. that's the argument that's being made, isn't it? >> the way i look at it is this, give me the exact verbiage of the law and see whether that would have stopped lanza. i submit to you it would not. for example, he has weapons in in the house already. separate issue, he's a mentally disturbed fellow and his mother has weapons unsecured in the house. adam: i don't disagree with you. david: very quickly, how much would this cost, this kind of security? >> if you used former military, per school anywhere between 40 and 50,000 dollars a year. david: for the nation, tens of billions of cost? >> no. high cost areas like new york

you're going to have to pay guys more. what's 50,000 times -- >> if somebody wanted to do damage, you are not going to be able to arm enough -- david: that point has to be the last. ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. holiday sales may be slowing down this year, but there still could be some good stocks to buy. find out which companies might be worth a look or another look right after the. -- right after this.

david: some good news for jc penney, the stock is up today. brokerage firm says its promotions are helping increased foot traffic in the stores. and shares of a supplement seller are down today after the company announced its plans to buy back 50 million dollars in shares. wow, down every 6%. this comes after investor ackerman told the company an unsustainable pyramid scheme. [ male announcer ] this is the age of knowing what you're made of.

why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor.

david: back to the markets, back to nicole, trip advisor shares are higher. nicole, why? nicole: that's right. a buy rating was put on trip advisors with a new price target from $38. at $38 they would be below this current level. even through yesterday's close -- friday's close. 1% to the upside. positive comments from the analyst helping trip advisor along during this holiday season. of course everybody is busy traveling, aren't they? back to you. david: they sure are.

thank you very much. retail sales slowing down a little in holiday season. we want to look at retail companies. joining us now is jordan goodman from money answers.com. jc penney which is actually on your loser list even though they are up today. >> ron johnson who used to run the apple stores came in there. very creative and said every day low pricing, it didn't work. okay? people said they want their coupons. basically since thanksgiving, they have changed and they are now doing the couponing and discounting. david: does johnson got it right now? >> well, possibly. i don't think it has a long-term future actually. there's so much competitive pressure they are way behind. shibani: i feel like the value proposition and sort of the identity -- >> that's right. people aren't going there to take a -- the stores are empty right now. david: groupon is on your loser list. >> absolutely. well, this whole kind of on-line

discount shopping for merchants seems trendy, remember the stock went public at $20 a share now it's like 4 or something. david: big pop down today, down 3%. kohl's also on the loser list. >> that's right. again, if there's not a compelling reason -- they are kind of in the middle area which is not where things have been. those have been big losers this year. david: we started with losers. let's talk about winners. amazon? >> amazon has been a big winner. they are not only in clothes books and they are in everything. they have this tremendous distribution system so people are buying things. of course at the moment you don't have to pay tax on internet. david: do you like the kindle? >> i do. it is very good. david: they are selling it at basically costs still. >> they are using it as a way to get customers. makes a lot of sense. david: what happens to amazon when they do have to charge -- -- adam: what happens to amazon when they do have to charge --? >> it will hurt them a little

bit. adam: but if i can get the same thing for the same price at a brick and mortar store? shibani: it's convenience. >> it takes a little bit off but it's still -- shibani: you can buy diapers and a television set in one -- >> that's right. david: jordan goodman, good to see you. >> thank you. david: coming up next, stuart reads it was the night before christmas. he even tears up a little bit. trust me. you want to watch it coming up.

how you doing? my name is steve. my family's lived in this neighborhood for years. recently, things got so tight we had to go to our local food bank for help. i lost a lot of sleep worrying about what the neighbors might think. that is, until i saw them there, too. how'd i do, steve? a little stiff. you could have done a little better. what? come on.

you know, i have an academy award. yeah, but not for playing me. announcer: play a role in ending hunger. visit feedingamerica.org/hunger and find your local food b ban. david: take a look at this quote about romney. quote he wanted to be president less than anyone i've met in my life. he had no desire to run. now that is from his son, tagg romney about his father. he said that governor romney had to be persuaded to run by his wife and tagg. so company, what do you think about this? do you believe it? adam: if tagg wants back in on the inheritance -- [laughter] shibani: what do you think? if that's the case, then everything worked out as it should have in the first place. well, i would beg that his son is probably not the best spokesman. david: i mean i don't think somebody runs for six years straight without wanting the job. adam: of course romney wanted to be president. david: we don't believe you tagg, sorry.

well stuart may be out for christmas, but here's something that can get us all into the holiday spirit. take a listen. stuart: two of my beautiful granddaughters will be with us this christmas, abigail and paige are watching right now. this is for you. 'twas the night before christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there. the children were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads. and mama in her kerchief and in her cap had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap. when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter i sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. in a twinkling i heard on the roof the prancing and pulling of each little hoof. as i drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney

st. nicholas came with a bound. his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. his eyes how they twinkled. his cheeks were like roses his nose like a cherry. he had a round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. he spoke not a word but went straight to his work and filled all the stockings then turned. giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. he sprang to his sleigh, to his team he gave a whistle. and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. as i heard him explain as he drove out of sight, happy christmas to all and to all a good fight. it still brings tears to my eyes especially when you have little abigail and paige watching and listening. i wish everyone such joy.

jumped out of a plane. finally, i became a ping pong master while recording my debut album. how you ask? with 5-hour energy. i get hours of energy now -- no crash later. wait to see the next five hours.

david: and here it is ladies and gentlemen, the highlight reel, roll it.

>> falling over the cliff will force everybody to do the hard work that's necessary -- >> i think the president and some republicans want to go over the cliff. david: that would still only be 1/8 of the money that he needs to balance the budget. shibani: what is so wrong -- david: because he cares about maintaining that level of spending. he doesn't want to decrease spending. shibani: if you start to cut spending you are going to cut jobs. if you raise taxes, you're going to cut jobs. >> the markets will appreciate in a long-term plan as opposed to right over the cliff. david: well, company, we heard earlier that a guest said he thought he would see a value added tax. we have the european social policy now. we will have the european tax policy to follow. shibani: i don't have any faith in something like a value added tax. we have a long rest of the year ahead of us.